Azerbaijani consul in US meets with US State Department official

The Consul of Azerbaijan in Los Angeles Ramil Gurbanov met on May 24 with Denis Shen, a high-ranking official from the US State Department.

"Sincere thanks to Denise Shen, Regional Director of the US State Department's Office of Foreign Missions in Los Angeles for a warm welcome and fruitful meeting," Gurbanov wrote on Twitter, adding the Office is a great partner of the Azerbaijani consulate in Los Angeles.

Note that the Los Angeles City Council has earlier voted to name an intersection near Azerbaijan's consulate "Republic of Artsakh Square".

“We have taken this action to affirm the solidarity of the people of Los Angeles with the people of Artsakh,” Paul Krekorian, the city council’s president said in an emailed statement on May 16, according to LAist.com which is a part of Southern California Public Radio.

According to him, the West L.A. intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Granville Avenue was chosen because it's where Azerbaijan's Los Angeles consulate is located.

Los Angeles County is home to the largest number of Armenians outside of Armenia, with more than 200,000 Armenian-Americans living in the county. The suburban city of Glendale is the centre of the Armenian community, and a small section of Los Angeles is known as Little Armenia.

On July 21, 2020, Armenians living in Los Angeles surrounded the building of Azerbaijan's Consulate General and held an action with aggressive and provocative anti-Azerbaijani slogans.

As a result, seven Azerbaijanis were injured, with four of them being hospitalized. Reportedly, the Armenian man, who attacked the young Azerbaijani woman, also assaulted a police officer.